Wake Forest Athletics News
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Gold Rush: 100% Cotten
Oct. 28, 2002 by Stan Cotten SportsPage Crosses State Lines Deacon SportsPage, ISP Sports' weekly call-in radio show featuring head football coach Jim Grobe and yours truly, has been peppered recently from calls up and down the East Coast. The last two weeks have seen calls come in for the coach from North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Alabama and Maryland. Add Jack's call from British Columbia, and we've gone global. It's always satisfying to know that people are actually listening, and the fact that so many Wake fans have called from so far away is very encouraging. Perhaps the Deacs' universe is larger than we think. wakeforestsports.com I can't put a value on the Internet as it relates to what we do for Wake Forest at ISP Sports. Virtually all of the calls we get from out of state are from fans listening live on the Internet from their homes or offices. Some without Internet access simply know when the show airs and call the toll free number at the right time, but most have their ears glued to the computer screen to hear what Coach Grobe has to say or to check out the live play-by-play on Saturday. In September of this year, wakeforestsports.com had 80,000 visitors, and page views compared with the same period in 2001 had increased 97 percent. Wake fans are getting the message, and based on recent history of callers using the Web to access Deacon SportsPage, it appears the Internet will continue to be a growing outlet - affiliate, if you will, of the Wake Forest ISP Sports Network. Pace a Double-Dipper? Senior defensive end Calvin Pace has picked up the intensity lately and nears his second career milestone. At press time, Pace had already broken the career standard for tackles for a loss with 48. That was the total following a six tackle for loss day against Duke, passing current Baltimore Raven and former Deac Michael McCrary's total of 46. Pace entered the Clemson game needing just three sacks to tie and four to pass the all-time record of 30 sacks set by McCrary. Pace had two sacks against Duke (and could have easily been credited with a third) and had 37 on the way to Death Valley. Defense Offensive The Deacons picked up their first defensive touchdown in over two years when Eric King rambled 90 yards with Calvin Pace's block of a Duke field goal attempt. It was Wake's first defensive TD since end Brian Ray knocked the ball from North Carolina quarterback Ronald Curry in the end zone and recovered it in the fall of 2000 in a game at Groves Stadium. Moments after King's length of the field sprint, Kellen Brantley intercepted a deflected Blue Devil pass and scored from 29 yards out. It was almost 10 years to the day the last time Wake got two defensive touchdowns in the same game. On Oct. 10, 1992, the Deacs' George Coghill scored two touchdowns in a 40-6 win at Vanderbilt. Coghill took an interception back for a 60-yard score and later added an even more dramatic 83-yard return of a Commodore fumble for his second touchdown of the game. Stately Riddle Here's one for you. Reference the list of states at the beginning of this column. Does one state stand out? I'll explain next time. In the meantime, see you on the radio. |